Fort Lewis Mesa Fire Protection District

Hepatitis B Vaccinations - Thursday, August 14, 2008

Hello all EMS members,

As you all know, immunization against Hepatitis B is very important for emergency medical personnel.

Steve has asked me to coordinate the Hep B immunization effort for all Fort Lewis Mesa EMS volunteers.

The basics for immunization are this:

Vaccines are available at San Juan Basin Health Department on an appointment basis.
Hepatitis B immunization consists of 3 vaccinations: one at day 0, one at day 30, and one at day 180.
Some of you have already been fully or partially vaccinated.
A partially finished series can be completed. You do not have to start over.
The department will pay for the Hep B vaccine series for EMS members.

What I need is for each of you to consider the following:

If you think you've started and/or completed the vaccination series at San Juan Basin Health, I need your name and birth date so that the Health Department can confirm this for us. (For budgeting purposes we need to know if you need the whole series or just part of it.)
If you want to get the complete series of vaccinations and/or want to finish your series, you need to let me know so that I can prepare an authorization for billing for the Health Department.

We will probably not start this process until late September or early October to allow the Health Department to finish up their Back-to-School immunizations. Additionally, if you choose to participate, this would be a great time to get a flu shot (on your own dime) or tetanus booster if needed (but this can't happen until 2009 due to budget constraints).

It's the department's goal to have everyone vaccinated for Hepatitis B eventually, but initially we are targeting the volunteers at the highest risk levels.

Regards,

Robin Walsh

Kind Coal - Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Chief Ebner had a meeting with King Coal today at station 3. They will be storing some Mine Rescue equipment at station 3, in the engine bay on the South wall. They are now regulated to have equipment stationed within 1 hour of incident location, they have no facilities as yet. This arrangement will be temporary, possibly 12 months. Please respect their property as they have stringent requirements to meet. There will be some financial support with this arrangement, still working on that. Also too, they are very interested in doing some joint training with us, but whatever we do, we will not be participating with underground operations on an incident. We will however be support to their operations in the event of an incident underground. It would be good in the sense that it will give all of us a better understanding of what their operations entail.

When the coal mine has an emergency and they dial 911, they are now going to identify which site, “King 1” meaning the original site and “King 2” as the new coal mine site. Just so everyone is aware of locations the new site is approximately 11/2 miles south of the original location on CR 120.

Insurance - Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Fort Lewis Mesa Fire is a member of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs Association. Through this membership, comes an offer for volunteer fire fighters for insurance through Travelers insurance. Coverage is available for all personal lines insurance policies such as homeowners, renters, automobiles, identity theft, or personal liability. If you are interested you can contact:

T. Charles Wilson Insurance

303-368-5757 ext 339

800-530-3001 ext 339 Toll free

FF1/HazMat Classes - Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Fire Fighter 1 class that was offered this Fall at DFRA station 1 has been postponed until January 2009. There will be a Haz Mat Opts class and a S 130/190 class offered this Fall at DFRA. If anyone is interested in any of these 2 classes please let me know. The schedule has not been posted as yet, when I do get the schedule I’ll send it out.

2008 Pension - Friday, August 08, 2008

The following list is the members who have the hours required to qualified for pension this year:

Chris Anderson
Mark Bauer
Brian Cline
Josh Dunegan
Kelsey Dyer
Art Evans
Kathy Hogan
Sara Kincheloe
Bruce Kowalski
Travis Luz
Ted Mahan
Dennis Portlance
Cassie Ramsey
Doug Ramsey
Brad Ray Jr.
Brad Ray Sr.
Trent Reeder
Ken Spence
Ben Thorsheim
John Vogel
Garrett Vogel
Robin Walsh
Will Walsh
Doug Zalesky
Leesa Zalesky
Sam Zalesky

Good job to all

Just some details on how some of the hours came out,

Over 300 hours, 2 members

200 to 300 hours, 3 members

100 to 200 hours, 7 members

50 to 100 hours, 9 members

Thanks to all of you who have given of your time to train and with training comes safety on the incident.

Steve Ebner

Fire Chief

Policy on patient intoxication - Monday, July 14, 2008

To the membership, please read, this is very important:

As everyone knows we seem to have some difficulty with Law enforcement on MVA’s when they ask about alcohol and such. After meeting with the Colorado State Patrol I believe that we have come to a compromise that all should be able to live with.

Our policy has been we do not disclose if a patient is or is not intoxicated, we will still maintain that policy on the basis, that to confirm intoxication requires a blood test, and we do not do that within our practice. Not to mention as we have discussed, that the patient actions could be due to a medical condition rather than alcohol.

So if you are asked by law enforcement “is the patient intoxicated?” your answer shall be NO or I don’t know.

The following should help clear up things as they happen on incidents,

A law enforcement officer is investigating the commission of a crime. Information about your patient is needed for the investigation. Under HIPAA rules, this information is not restricted and an official form or request is not required.

A covered provider, ie an EMS provider, providing off site emergency medical care may report private health information as necessary to alert law enforcement to the commission and nature of the crime; location of the crime and of crime victim(s); and the identity, description and location of the perpetrator. HIPAA reference: 45 CFR 164.512 (f)(6).

During an emergency types of information may be needed are:

1. Location of victim

2. Location of suspect

3. Location of crime

4. Locations of persons within the vehicle

5. Medical condition that may have contributed to the crime

6. Observations of intoxication, odor of alcohol

7. Location, type, and extent of injuries of Victim or suspect

8. Identity and description of suspect

9. Statements about the crime

10. Use of restraints in the vehicle

Under HIPAA rules, you may volunteer information about a crime to a law enforcement officer with out waiting for a request.

Now here is what our policy will be.

If asked by law enforcement on scene, is the patient is intoxicated?, the answer is NO or I DON’T KNOW
If asked about an odor of alcohol on your patient, answer appropriately yes or no, BUT be very discreet and keep the information between you and the law enforcement officer, and make sure you document that if you answer is yes.

Observations can be made known to law enforcement on scene, but observations only.

Treat all other aspects of patient information as we always have, if you have questions feel free to contact me,